SMARTDRAW IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT:

SmartDraw's Floor Plans Spark Fast Fire Investigations

A Burning Need
Pulling double duty as a volunteer firefighter and a fire investigator for a district of 40,000 residents is no easy task. Just ask Richard Keller with the Ithaca Fire Department. In addition to responding to fires, he is responsible for creating documentation and diagrams for fire investigations. "Last year, we had over 50 fires that warranted investigation," said Keller.

To handle high-volume fire investigations, Keller needed a fast way to create floor plans for his reports.

"I was using graph paper, pencils, and some very basic drawing programs," said Keller. "I needed something better."

He searched the Web for floor plan software, and found SmartDraw.com.

To the Rescue
Keller downloaded SmartDraw's free trial and got started right away.

"I created several diagrams the first time I used the software," he said. "It was very intuitive!"

SmartDraw's easy drag-and-drop approach helped Keller quickly create professional-looking floor plans.

SmartDraw offers thousands of built-in graphics and templates, including National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)-recognized symbols.

"The inclusion of firefighter graphics, electrical symbols, and NFPA icons is a huge plus," said Keller. "It's great for people like me, who have basically no artistic skills."

He was also impressed with the ability to export SmartDraw documents into common graphics formats.

"That makes it easy to incorporate diagrams into reports," said Keller. "It also really simplifies our archiving and distribution."

Case Closed
The SmartDraw floor plans are so impressive that the Ithaca Fire Department has put Keller in charge of creating all fire scene diagrams.

"I've also recommended SmartDraw as the new standard for fire reports," he said.

Keller's SmartDraw plans are not only great-looking—they are also much faster to produce than his old floor plans.

"SmartDraw saves us time in creating our reports, and that makes the investigation process much faster," said Keller.

But most importantly, Keller has more time to focus on a firefighter's most important job: saving lives.

"SmartDraw helps me focus on the heart of our mission, by simplifying the chores," said Keller. "That's what counts."